The Lie That Made Me Love You

Chapter 10: Briefing

Sophie Barnes

“Now, let's get to business.” Alisha pulled out a collage book. My head tilts to the side almost instantly as I am consumed by inquisitivity and nerves. In a weird way, I didn't want to be caught off guard by anything.

I checked to see Heidi's reaction. I must applaud her, asides the irrational flirting that just happened some minutes ago, she was taking the role seriously. Her face is clear of creases. I doubted mine was that smooth with how much thought was running on my mind.

She flipped it open, then slapped her hands down on it, like she suddenly changed her mind about letting us see what was in it.

“First of all, this is confidential inside industry tea. I do not want to hear anything about this outside. Don't worry, you will be signing NDA's anyway.”

The last part caught my attention. I had an idea we would necessarily have to sign a NDA contract. No one seemed to be talking about it, so I ended up not saying anything too. She finally turned the book and asked us to go through it. She pushed it between Julian and I. We reached for it at the same time, causing him to withdraw his hand back like I was the walking plague itself. I made a weird face at him, trying my hardest to chew on my tongue.

At first, I thought he was just being reserved. But at this point, he was beginning to get on my nerves. Henry grinned at me, one I knew was a fake one for sure, because no one was ever truly that happy to see someone they had only met on two occasions.

“Why are you both acting like kindergarteners who just found out they have a crush on each other. I handed you the book to see examples of successful fake marriages that yielded exactly what it was supposed to from the start.” Alisha said, tapping the table repeatedly as if to prove her point.

There was one book and two parties. I looked at Julian, trying to tell him to be civil with my eyes. It didn't occur to me that he might not even pick up on what the eye contact meant. He raised an eyebrow at me. A clear ‘what?’, with the most unnecessary attitude I have seen. He clearly wasn't mature enough to share a book, so I moved the chair a little closer to the book to aid my terrible vision.

The first picture was one of an older couple that I didn't really recognize. I mean, their faces seemed to be old. So they should have been between the age 60-70. It wasn't much of a tea if the tea bag was old and worn out.

Fuck. I needed help. That was shitty of me. I flipped the page regardless of who else was watching. And by who else, I just realized it was everyone, one of the four of us. I had no idea when Heidi had left my side and stood behind me, next to the Henry guy.

I looked to them to know if it was cool to flip pages.

“I am good. I don't know who they are or why they needed a fake marriage to both look miserable.” Julian flat out said, crossing his arm.

His buddy didn't even try to correct him this time. Instead, he shakes his head. Like a fate of his he had long accepted had unwrapped itself before his eyes.

The next people also weren't A-list celebrities. The fourth flip was what knocked the breath out of my lungs.

“No way!” I gasped in sync with Heidi, while Henry had whispered the f**k!.

I raised my head to meet Alisha's eyes. “This can't be fake. They kiss on TV!” I fought for the reality I had known and trusted.

“Don't say their names out loud.” She warned, looking directly at me.

“So the whole Mr and Mrs Smith thing was just the birth of the idea or did it—”

Heidi's curiosity is cut off by Alisha shrugging. “This is as much as I know.”

She was clearly lying. She was probably also under some form of NDA contract. Then the purpose of the collage really hit me in the center of my head. It was to convince us to make the decision. It worked.

“Okay. Definitely more interested than ever now.” I started as seriously as I could so it didn't come off as being too excited or desperate.

She looked at the boys. “Sure. We are 100%.”

She clapped both her hands together. “Good!”

“I am sure you both have experience with contracts at this point, so that's not going to be our focus. We are going straight to the soft launching of your relationship right away from this evening. According to both of your statistics, you both desperately need this plan to commence as soon as possible...” Alisha explained after I reacted to how soon it all was.

“What is a soft launch?” Julian asked. I was surprised Mr. Know it all didn't know what it meant.

“Oh, that's when we kind of give people a tease about your relationship. Right now, we are trying to make people treat you more warmly. Have you issued an apology yet?”

Henry immediately reacted. “I told you we should have typed out an apology!”

“Why should I?! I didn't call any woman fat!” Julian replied defiantly.

“We are making an apology video tonight. Make it as unofficial as possible. A recording in your room. The wall behind should be decorated with some of your work. Give people a reason to forgive you,” Alisha emphasized.

“It doesn't matter if you said it or not. You are already in the haze of cancel-culture. And that's the time when women feel the strongest, especially when it is a man with a cold reputation like yours. Make a video tonight. Explain your side of the story and leave the soft launching to myself and the influencer.”

“Hey, her name is Sophie!” Heidi butted in. I was going to tell her it was okay at first, but seeing how apologetic Alisha looked afterward, I started to think maybe having Heidi as my manager wasn't such a bad idea after all.

“That's all for now, Julian,” Alisha said.

“Make the apology video, then we can talk about the next step. Right now, we need to focus on Sophie.”

He nodded without a word, and got to his feet. He stared down at me for a bit, then he was gone.